books.html

---
layout: default
title: Books
---

<div class="books">
  <a href="/">&#x27F5; Home</a>
  <h1>My books</h1>
  <p>
    Here are the books that I have written. I write books so that everyone can learn from what I know and so that other
    people don't have to write them.
  </p>

  <div class='book'>
    <div class="image">
      <a href='https://pragprog.com/titles/d-rbgql/graphql-for-rails-developers/'><img
          src='https://d2sofvawe08yqg.cloudfront.net/graphql-rails/s_hero?1696966663' /></a>
    </div>
    <div class="blurb">
      <h2><a href='https://pragprog.com/titles/d-rbgql/graphql-for-rails-developers/'>GraphQL for Rails Developers</a></h2>
      <p class="text-xl">
        A step-by-step guide for building a GraphQL API within a Rails application. Covering queries, mutations, union types, authentication and integration with JavaScript frontend frameworks. The backend companion to The Apollo Handbook.
      </p>


    </div>
  </div>

  <div class='book'>
    <div class="image">
      <a href='https://leanpub.com/apollo-handbook/'><img
          src='https://d2sofvawe08yqg.cloudfront.net/apollo-handbook/s_hero2x?1622167273' /></a>
    </div>
    <div class="blurb">
      <h2><a href='https://leanpub.com/apollo-handbook/'>The Apollo Handbook</a></h2>
      <p class="text-xl">
        This book is about how we can approach building a frontend application using a combination of React, Next.JS,
        TypeScript, GraphQL, Apollo, and GraphQL Code Generator. These tools are a winning combination for a frontend
        stack.
      </p>
    </div>
  </div>

  <div class='book'>

    <div class="image">
      <a href='https://leanpub.com/maintain-rails/'><img
          src='https://s3.amazonaws.com/titlepages.leanpub.com/maintain-rails/hero?1524454474' /></a>
    </div>
    <div class="blurb">
      <h2><a href='https://leanpub.com/maintain-rails/'>Maintainable Rails</a></h2>
      <p class="text-xl">
        Have you felt the pain of using Active Record on a large codebase? How about messy controllers? Read this short
        guide on how to improve a Rails application's structure by exploding its responsibilities into small classes
        with their own unique responsibilities. Starring rom-rb and dry-rb.
      </p>

      <p>
        I wrote this book on the back of my near decade-long experience with Rails and it was a really fun experience to
        work out how to build a Rails app without Active Record. I hope others find it just as fun too. Maybe this book
        will start a movement?
      <p>
    </div>
  </div>

  <div class='book'>
    <div class="image">
      <a href='https://joyofelixir.com/'><img src='https://joyofelixir.com/images/small-cover.png' /></a>
    </div>
    <div class="blurb">
      <h2><a href='https://joyofelixir.com/'>Joy of Elixir</a></h2>
      <p class="text-xl">

        Joy of Elixir is a gentle introduction to programming, aimed at people who already know some things about
        computers.
      </p>

      <p>
        This book will teach you the core concepts of the Elixir programming language in a fun and enjoyable way. If
        you're completely new to programming and you want to learn how to make a computer do things using the power of
        programming and you want to experience some joy while doing it, then read this book.
      </p>
    </div>
  </div>

  <div class="book">
    <div class="image">
      <a href='https://activerailsbook.com'><img src='/images/books/activerails.png' /></a>
    </div>
    <div class="blurb">
      <h2><a href='https://activerailsbook.com'>Active Rails</a></h2>
      <p class="text-xl"><a href='https://activerailsbook.com'>Active Rails</a> guides you through building a
        fully-featured Rails 6 application, teaching you best practices about Behaviour-Driven-Development along the
        way.</p>
    </div>
  </div>

  <div class="book">
    <div class="image">
      <a href='http://leanpub.com/multi-tenancy-rails-2'><img src='/images/books/mtwr.png' /></a>
    </div>
    <div class="blurb">
      <h2><a href='http://leanpub.com/multi-tenancy-rails-2'>Multitenancy with Rails</a></h2>

      <p class="text-xl">
        <a href='http://leanpub.com/multi-tenancy-rails-2'>Multitenancy with Rails</a> teaches you super neat tricks
        about Ruby, Rails and PostgreSQL while you build a multi-tenanted, Software as a Service, Ruby on Rails
        application. Works on Rails 4 and up.
      </p>

      <p>
        This book is what I'd consider an "intermediate" Rails book. It's something that you would read after finishing
        Rails 4 in Action, so in a way Multitenancy is a sequel to Rails 4 in Action.
      </p>

      <p>
        This book uses <a href='https://github.com/radar/twist'>Twist</a> -- an app I wrote from scratch -- as the basis
        for the work done in the book.
      </p>

      <p>
        <small>(This was my first foray into self-publishing. <a
            href='http://ryanbigg.com/2015/08/my-self-publishing-success-story'>It went pretty well.)</a>
        </small>
      </p>
    </div>
  </div>

  <div class='book'>
    <div class="image">
      <a href='https://leanpub.com/toyrobot/'><img src='/images/books/tr.png' /></a>
    </div>
    <div class="blurb">
      <h2><a href='https://leanpub.com/toyrobot/'>Toy Robot</a></h2>
      <p class="text-xl">
        The <a href='https://leanpub.com/toyrobot/'>"Toy Robot Test"</a> is a common interview exercise for new
        programmers. This short book will take you through how to implement it in Ruby in a BDD-style, with some great
        explanations and imagery along the way.
      </p>

      <p>
        This book is designed to give people unfamiliar with testing an easy-going introduction to writing code from a
        test-first approach.
      </p>
    </div>

  </div>

  <div class='book'>
    <div class="image">
      <a href='https://leanpub.com/elixir-toyrobot/'><img
          src='https://d2sofvawe08yqg.cloudfront.net/elixir-toyrobot/hero?1561523707' /></a>
    </div>
    <div class="blurb">
      <h2><a href='https://leanpub.com/elixir-toyrobot/'>Toy Robot: The Elixir Version</a></h2>
      <p class="text-xl">
        The <a href='https://leanpub.com/toyrobot/'>"Toy Robot Test"</a> is a common interview exercise for new
        programmers. This short book will take you through how to implement it in Elixir in a BDD-style, with some great
        explanations and imagery along the way.
      </p>

      <p>
        This book is designed to give people unfamiliar with testing an easy-going introduction to writing Elixir code
        from a test-first approach.
      </p>
    </div>
  </div>
</div>